MOSCOW. March 11 (Interfax) - Russian forces have improved their positions in the Donetsk and Kherson sectors, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.
"In the Donetsk sector, units from the southern group of forces took better positions as a result of intensive operations and struck formations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' 80th Air Assault Brigade and 33rd and 54th mechanized brigades near Krasnogorovka and Razdolovka in the Donetsk People's Republic [DPR] and Belogorovka in the Lugansk People's Republic," the ministry said.
An attack by a Ukrainian assault group was repelled near Novomikhailovka in the DPR, it said.
"The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 180 troops, two armored military vehicles, three pickup trucks, three Akatsiya self-propelled artillery systems and two D-20 howitzers. Three enemy field artillery depots were also destroyed," the ministry said.
In the Kherson sector, units from the Dnepr group of forces took better positions and front lines and repelled an attack by a Ukrainian assault group near Rabotino in the Zaporozhye region, as a result of which the Ukrainian Army lost up to 30 troops, one tank, five trucks, and a D-30 howitzer, it said.
"In the Kupyansk sector, units from the western group of forces while interacting with aircraft and artillery repelled four attacks by assault groups of the Ukrainian 32nd Mechanized Brigade and 57th Motorized Infantry Brigade near Sinkovka in the Kharkov region. The enemy lost up to 30 troops, two infantry vehicles, and two pickup trucks," the ministry said.
Counterbattery measures hit a Czech-made Vampire multiple rocket launcher, two French-made Caesar self-propelled artillery systems, a Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, a D-30 howitzer, and a U.S.-made M101 system, it said.
"In the southern Donetsk sector, units from the eastern group of forces hit troops and hardware of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the 102nd Territorial Defense Brigade near Vodyanoye in the DPR and Chervonoye in the Zaporozhye region. The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost over 140 troops, eight pickup trucks, and a U.S.-made M119 towed gun," the ministry said.